Sometimes major life changes call for a shift in your wardrobe or sometimes it's just time to make that shift for other personal reasons. Building a wardrobe can be daunting. It's hard to know where to start and it's hard to know how to make it all work on a budget as well.
Building a wardrobe (or re-building a wardrobe) should happen in two steps. One is to stock up and invest in the basics. Find really great fitting jeans, a simple dress you can wear anywhere, classic tops like stripes and chambray and a few pairs of classic and simple shoes. For the first part of your building period focus on these simple and classic pieces - make sure you LOVE them and they fit you PERFECTLY. Spend a good deal of time trying stuff on and shopping around online or in person. The basics will be the foundation of your wardrobe today, tomorrow and hopefully throughout the year.
Then comes the fun part… Once you have your foundation set you can shop for the "fun" pieces that make a wardrobe personal and interesting. Think patterns and colors - bold or subtle depending on your personal style, throw in some fun accessories like a great bag or earrings and feel free to add in a few trends as well. Some of these "fun" pieces you may want to invest in, but others may be cheap thrills from Target, Old Navy or H&M - it's up to you, your budget and your style preferences. One very important tip is to try and stay in a color story for these pieces. As you can see below I focused on navy, grey, coral and neon for the "fun" stuff. This helps keep your wardrobe easy to mix and match which makes getting dressed each morning very simple.
Finally keep a healthy balance between the basics and the fun stuff. Don't go overboard on the fun stuff while leaving out important building blocks to your wardrobe and alternately don't over-buy basics and leave your wardrobe lifeless. Find a healthy balance that YOU feel comfortable with.
I hope this post really helps those of you working on building or re-building your wardrobe… if you have any more questions please feel free to ask in the comments!
the basics:
jeans, black pants, white jeans, shorts, maxi skirt, striped dress, chambray top, grey sweatshirt, striped top, denim jacket, sandals, black flats, leopard print flats
the "fun" stuff:
polka dot top, neon tee, "new york" tee, coral blouse, baseball tee, earrings, bracelet, coral sneakers, silver sandals, tote, grey varsity dress, striped shorts, embroidered dress
